Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) published a report on Violence Against Women. It received significant pick-up in the media due to the high number of revenge porn prosecutions that have been brought since a new law was introduced.
I made a Freedom of Information request to the CPS, to ask whether they could tell me how many of the victims in the cases they prosecuted were women. I assumed they would have this information to hand.
I received a reply to my request today. It turns out that they do not keep track of that information. Continue reading
Page 54 of 328
Orchard Toys do a great line in table top games for kids. They include games of chance, strategy and memory using thick card and clear, colourful illustrations. I heartily recommend any of the line as good value for money birthday presents. (They also have a Pirate Memory Game, a fact which will be hilarious to fans of Little Britain).
One of their games is Where’s My Cupcake? Children as young as 3 can play with adults on an equal footing because the game is entirely based on chance. Players take turns to pick a cupcake card off a central pile, and see if it matches one of the cake cards laid out on the table. If it does, they add both cards to their pile. If it does not, they check to see if anyone has a matching card on the top of their pile, asking “would you like a cupcake?” If no-one claims the cupcake card, its placed on the table and the next person takes a turn. Play continues like that until the pile of cards are exhausted. The player with the most cupcake cards is the winner. Full instructions are here.
The only problem with the game is that because it is entirely based on chance, its actually very hard to let a very young person win, if you want them to! Sometimes, a string of bad luck can mean they miss several opportunities to put a cupcake on their plate, and they might lose several games in a row. For someone just learning how to share and play fair, this can be demoralising to the point where they refuse to play. It would be nice to be able to optimise their chance of victory.
Since the game is entirely procedural, the outcome of the game is pre-determined from the moment the cards are shuffled. However, the shuffling involves 30 cards with 10 designs on them, which means there are 4.39 x 1039 possible combinations. Even the fastest super computer in the world would take several millennia to evaluate every combination.
Nevertheless, I decided to script a virtual version of the game, so I could simulate many hundreds of games and discover which player is statistically most likely to win. Armed with that knowledge, I can ensure that the person I want to prevail is sat in that spot when the game is played, and thereby decrease the likelihood of tears before bedtime. Continue reading
New York Magazine has a long feature on the eight years of Obama’s America.
The first illustration in the piece is a compelling diptych of President Obama: two portraits taken eight years apart. The difference is stark. His hair has turned grey and his face is rumpled.
President Barack Obama, by Dan Winters
However, the photograph that really brought home for me the changes of the past eight years was one taken on inauguration day in January 2009. Its a version of an image that I’ve commented on before.
Inauguration party, 2009. Chicago Tribune/MCT
At first glance, the image looks modern. People mediating their own experience of the moment via a glowing rectangle. Taking their very own version of a famous photograph.
But when you compare it to the photograph below, taken in 2016, the inauguration image suddenly looks horribly dated.
Hillary Clinton waves to a selfie-taking crowd at a recent campaign event in Orlando, Florida. Photo: Barbara Kinney
The Italian journalist Claudio Gatti has caused controversy this week, with the publication of an article that claims to reveal the true identiy of the celebrated novelist Elena Ferrante. Published in English on the New York Review of Books blog, and simultaneously in German, Italian and French, the article sets out the evidence Gatti has found that points to a particular woman, who he names.1
Anonymity and pseudonymity are often a pre-requisite for freedom of expression. Whistle-blowers usually need to keep their names away from whatever they have told journalists, lest they lose their jobs or even their liberty. This is the main reason why English PEN, for whom I work, campaigns so vigorously against draconian surveillance laws and for better protections for those handling journalistic material. Continue reading
Dear People Who Write Open Letters to People Who Write Open Letters —
As is customary with this form, I must begin by stating whether or not we have met. We have not. But in many ways, I feel like you. In fact, following my Open Tweet to People Who Write Open Letters this morning, it could be said that I am you. I share your concern that the Open Letter form has become a cliché, and your worry that we are reaching Peak Open Letter, bringing an ennui that can only be described as Open Letter Fatigue.
You claim that Open Letter writers being presumptious and arrogant. You claim that they are cowardly. You claim they are self indulgent.
On all of these counts, you are mistaken. Continue reading